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Russia and China Invest in Infrastructure, US Instead Spends on Military

Eric ZuesseChina’s “Belt and Road Initiative” is famous as an extension of their domestic infrastructure investments, but Russia is also investing heavily in infrastructure. Both countries need to do it in order to improve the future for their respective populations, and both Governments have avoided the Western development model of going heavily into debt in order to pay for creating and maintaining infrastructure. Both are, in fact, exceptionally low-debt Governments.

According to the “Global Debt Clock” at Economist, China has a public debt/GDP of 17.7%, and Russia’s is 8.0%. For comparison, America’s is 93.6%. (Others are: Germany 85.8%, Spain 91.2%, Italy 122.6%, Greece 147.1%, India 54.2%, Pakistan 47.0%, and Brazil 55.0%.)

The United States isn’t going into public debt in order to finance building or maintenance of infrastructure, but instead to finance expansions of its military, which is already (and by far) the world’s largest (in terms of its costs, but not of its numbers of troops).

By contrast, US infrastructure is rotting; and, while every recent US President has promised to reverse that decline, none has done anything significant to repair this nation’s rotting infrastructure — it has always been just talk and empty promises. A nation that spends over a trillion dollars a year on ‘national defense’ can’t have much left over to spend on things that ‘can wait’ — such as repairing its bridges, roads, etc. — and so those repairs do wait, while even more money, than before, becomes devoted to purchases of new weaponry, such as the F-35 program. . .

4 thoughts on “Russia and China Invest in Infrastructure, US Instead Spends on Military”

America is far worse off than, the USSR before it’s collapse. Russian oligarchs were saying this, back in 2008. The vultures cannot wait for the final collapse. It will be multi-pronged
1. Political
No democracy
2. Environmental: further nuclear catastrophes.
3. Financial
Bullshit ponzis in wallstreet collapse
4. Societal- breakdown of safety nets. Rampant drug abuse. Crime. Violence insanity
5. Climate-induced. No recovery from hurricanes like has happened puerto rico and the florida panhandle
6. No food or oil
7. Medical catastrophes from outbreaks, universal corporate poisonings, the radionuclide sewer that engulfs us

I have often wondered about this, Doug. It’s good to see someone break it down like this. The vultures you refer to are insane if they envision any quality (or longevity) of life in their underground bunkers.